During the Seventh Bengaluru Space Expo 2022, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced, in September 2022, that India is planning to design and build reusable rocket for the global market that would significantly cut the cost of launching satellites. Presently, it costs about US$ 10,000–15,000 to put one kilogram payload in the orbit, according to ISRO. The agency plans to reduce this cost of launch between US$ 1,000–5,000 per kg of payload which is possible only by making the rocket reusable.
India’s Satellite Launch Vehicles
Currently, when ISRO uses a rocket to launch satellites in expendable form, the rocket re-enters after placing the satellite and burns up during the re-entry because India does not have reusable technology in the launch vehicle sector. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the warhorse rocket of ISRO, is based on the technology developed in the 1980s. It could not be used for rocket launching in the near future. For the new launch vehicle, the technologies, the manufacturing, and the cost associated with the systems would all go through changes. PSLV does not serve the needs of 2020s. Therefore, it will stop its services after completing its current launch orders. The new developing rocket which would replace PSLV will be Next-Gen Launch Vehicle (NGLV). Though the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk-III) was first launched in 2017, the technology induction at the appropriate time is very essential.
About NGLV
The NGLV, to be built after the GSLV Mk III, would be a reusable rocket. ISRO scientists have been working on various technologies including the Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD), which was demonstrated recently and a retro-propulsion to land the rocket back on Earth. ISRO is working with the industry, start-ups, and New Space India Limited (NSLV), the commercial wing of the ISRO, in designing, engineering, manufacturing, and launching NGLV. It would be a commercial product, and would be operated in a commercial manner.
The NGLV would be competitive, cost-effective, production-friendly, and would be operated globally for the services of the space sector. ISRO would then retire the existing launch vehicles being used once the reusable technology rocket is ready.
ISRO expects to have the design of the NGLV ready within a year, and offer it to the industry for manufacturing. The NGLV would feature a simple and robust design which would allow bulk manufacturing, modularity in systems, sub-systems and stages, along with minimal turnaround time. NGLV would be used in the areas of launching communication satellites, deep space missions, future human spaceflight, and cargo missions.
A three-stage rocket, NGLV would be powered by semi-cryogenic propulsion or green fuel combinations such as methane and liquid oxygen or kerosene and liquid oxygen. The NGLV could offer launch costs of US$ 1,900 per kg of payload in the reusable form and US$ 3,000 per kg in the expendable form. The rocket is planned to carry a 10-tonne payload in the geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or 20-tonnes to the low earth orbit (LEO). The first launch with NGLV is tentatively scheduled in 2030. NGLV would be helpful as India plans to have its own space station by 2035. Besides, India also eyes deep space missions, human space flights, cargo missions, and putting multiple communication satellites into the orbit at the same time.
Boost to India’s Space Economy
As per a report prepared by Ernst and Young (EY) and the Indian Space Association (ISpA), India’s space economy is expected to reach US$ 12.8 billion by 2025. Further, in dollars, the satellite services and applications segment would be the largest with a turnover of US$ 4.6 billion by 2025. Moreover, the ground segment would be around US$ 4 billion, satellite manufacturing at US$ 3.2 billion, and launch services at US$ 1 billion.
The report states that India’s share in the launch services segment was pegged at US$ 600 million, in 2020, and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13 per cent to reach US$ 1 billion by 2025.
Reusable Rocket Technology in Other Countries
An American firm, Blue Origin, LLC, owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, had launched in 2015 its new launch vehicle, New Shepard, to the edge of space at a suborbital altitude of 100.5 km. The vehicle consisted of a Blue Engine 3 (BE-3) rocket and crew capsule. The capsule separated and touched down beneath a parachute. Latter, the BE-3 rocket made a controlled landing. The first BE-3 crewed flight was tested on July 20, 2021, with Wally Funk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, and Oliver Daemen on board. Blue Origin’s reusable suborbital rocket system has been designed to take astronauts and research payloads past internationally recognised boundary of space, the Karman line.
American spacecraft manufacturer, SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk tested their first reusable satellite rocket Falcon 9 in 2017. It is an ‘orbital class rocket’ which has been designed for payload delivery and manned flight. Both the rockets, Falcon 9 and the larger Falcon Heavy, are built to return their lower rocket stages upright either to Earth or to a drone ship in the ocean. Four lightweight carbon fibre legs are deployed just before landing, with each one containing a shock-absorbing system to cushion the impact.
The European Space Agency has planned the in-flight demonstration of a prototype reusable rocket first stage, called ‘Themis’, for 2023.
In August 2022, China announced that it had successfully launched a pilot reusable spacecraft with its Long March-2F carrier rocket. The unidentified spacecraft, launched from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, would return to a planned landing site after operating in the orbit for some time to provide technical validations for reuses.
Russia’s Soyuz-7 is a partially-reusable and methane-fuelled orbital launch vehicle which is currently in the design concept stage of development. The Roscosmos State Corporation began its designing in 2020, and is expected to be completed by 2026.
© Spectrum Books Pvt Ltd.